Animal Shelter
Dear Editor: As a single member of the Sitka Assembly, I am writing to acknowledge the public outrage over operations at the Sitka Animal Shelter. While I have not responded individually to the many, many messages I have received about this issue due to legal issues and my inability to speak on behalf of the Assembly as a whole, please know that I share your concerns and am committed to addressing them.
Kevin Mosher, Sitka
Utility Bills
Dear Editor: Sitka Utility Bills are Insane. We have no choice. Pay or else.
When we go to the grocery store we have a choice. When food prices rise we have a choice to either to buy, or not to buy. Either choose pork over steak, one brand over another, or choose any product based upon price and availability.
What choice do we have with higher utility bills? Can we shut off the electricity to our homes? No. Can we shut the water off? No. Can we cancel garbage pickup, and burn the garbage and bury the rest in a pit in the back yard? No. When it comes to utility bills we have no option other than paying, and paying on time. I’m sure glad I no longer have a boat in the Harbors!
Why isn’t the money collected by the City and Borough from the hundreds of thousands of tourists being shared with the retired, disabled, and less fortunate in Sitka? Why are utility bills rising two to three times per year? Where’s our piece of the tourist pie?
Why are the retirees in Sitka expected to take out reverse mortgages on their homes in order to live here? Or even worse, being told to seek some kind of “public assistance.” Suggesting that retires seek public assistance to pay for ever-rising utility bills, is degrading and insulting!
Why are the people responsible for the ever-increasing costs for living in Sitka, always seem to be the same people leaving Sitka, when they retire?
Give us a little slice of the Tourist Pie, and not one of those one time “bread and circuses” payments. Retires start making some noise! It’s time, to drastically lower the average home owner/renter Utility Bills in Sitka Alaska!
David Rice,
Sitkan since 1987
Trump
Dear Editor: Trump’s illegitimate power grab is bringing the United States closer to dictatorship. Trump has acted outside his legitimate power in arbitrarily shuttering public institutions, agencies and commissions; breaching the treasury department’s database containing the personal details of millions of Americans; freezing trillions of dollars in U.S. grants and loans; firing public servants; and firing inspectors general who are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud and abuse. Internationally, Trump seems intent on reviving colonialism, threatening to displace Palestinians from their homes, and threatening to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even Canada – all in violation of international law, resulting in loss of respect for the U.S. abroad.
Furthermore, the Trump administration seems determined to ignore a series of legal rulings opposing its crusade to take over the government. With Congress virtually silent in the face of these threats to our democracy, experts warn that the President’s violations of the Constitution and the law could upend the U.S. government’s system of checks and balances.
What’s happening in Washington may feel distant from our lives in Sitka. It isn’t. Alaska is the most federally dependent state in the U.S.; more than 57% of the state’s revenue comes from federal funding. Sitka is especially vulnerable to cuts in federal funding. Many jobs and services in Sitka rely on federal funds – including health care, education, science, medicine, transportation, infrastructure, and the arts. In a city where major employers receive abundant federal funding, shuttering public agencies and freezing funds in Washington will translate into loss of jobs and essential services for Sitkans.
Join us for an ongoing vigil, every Saturday, noon to 1, at the roundabout, as we gather to publicly protest actions by the Trump administration that profoundly threaten people and democratic principles we hold dear. Organized by Sitka Voices for Peace and Democracy, we advocate for a government that puts people and democracy first.
Democracy dies in silence. Just showing up and being there helps breaks the silence.
Cindy Litman, Sitka
